In the construction of structures such as a house or a light commercial building, a number of areas require direct ventilation to the outside air. Rooms such as restrooms, bathrooms, and kitchens are often provided with ventilation exhaust fans which remove undesired vapors from the room for ejection to the outside. Also, clothes dryers normally generate an exhaust gas stream containing the moisture removed from clothing which is being dried; this moisture laden gas stream is preferably directed outdoors. Roof vents and wall vents have long been used for these purposes.
The roof and wall vent designs which are presently most commonly used in residential and light commercial construction basically utilize a two piece structural design. In that design, a vent is provided with a flat shoulder for sealing the vent to an external building structure. An internal adapter is affixed to the building interior and juxtaposed to the shoulder of the external portion of the vent, so that the opening in the external portion of the vent matches the opening of the adapter. Then, a duct or flex hose is provided from a fan or other exhaust device to connect to the interior side of the adaptor.
Unfortunately, all to often the just described two piece construction method results in undesirable vent operation. For example, a gap may be left between the adaptor and the vent which lets a portion of the exhaust gases escape into the wall space, or back into the interior of the building. Where such gases are humid, as in dryer or bathroom exhausts, condensation can take place within the wall space, with cumulative deleterious affects on the building structure. The moisture deposited in the wall is also generally attractive to damaging insects. Further, the gap between the vent and the adaptor may allow entry of such insects into the damp wall space. Moreover, the moisture may damage certain types of insulation, and which results in a reduction in the insulation efficiency, thus increasing heat transfer outward from (or inward to) the building. That in turn increases energy costs for heating and cooling.
Generally, there have been developed a wide variety of devices which may be utilized to provide vents in roofs and walls. U.S. Pat. Ser. No. Des. 34,037, issued Feb. 5, 1901 to Reynolds for VENTILATOR superficially resembles our vent upon first inspection, but on closer scrutiny reveals that only a short downwardly projecting pipe adaptor section is provided. Further, the cap is of multi-piece riveted (evidently metal) construction, and does not have a shoulder base, so the pipe adaptor would have to be used to extend the vent above an exterior surface. U.S. Pat. No. 4,214,513 issued Jul. 29, 1980 to Ballard et al. for ONE-PIECE ROOF VENT DEVICE AND METHODS OF CONSTRUCTION AND UTILIZING SAME, and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 254,804 issued Apr. 22, 1980 to Ballard et al. for ROOF VENT, both reveal a vent with a flat base portion. The base portion and the outwardly protruding vent and cap portion are manufactured from one piece of aluminum; however, there is no downwardly extending tubular portion for connection to interior ductwork. And, although there are a wide variety of other types of vents, in so far as we are aware, most are multi-piece vents with various problems inherent in the joints provided, and therefore to some degree thus suffer from leakage and may result to some extent in the above described problems during use of such vents.
The problems and disadvantages with respect to the prior art vents described above are virtually eliminated by the present invention.